Safety razor



Oct. 6, 1931. R. E. THOMPSON 1,825,836

SAFETY RAZOR Filed Nov. 21, 1930 Patented Oct. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RALPH THOMPSON, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF DELA- WARE SAFETY RAZOR Application filed November 21, 1930. Serial No. 497,240.

- located in the holder by blade locating projections which extend into the body of the blade. In one aspect the invention consists in a new blade adapted to be used universally in holders having projections of different shapes or locations or both. In another aspect it consists in a novel combination of holder having blade locating projections with a blade having a puncturable section.

It will be understood that there are in use identification are equipped with blade locating projections of variouscharacteristics. Under the present conditions the user is limited in his selection of blades to those having apertures corresponding exactly to the contour of the projections. I have discovered that by providing the blade with a section which may be easily punctured by the projections regardless of their shape or location, then the blade may be used indiscriminately in whatever razor the user happens to have. By this construction moreover I am enabled to dispense with the necessity of providing the blade with an internal aperture accurately located and shaped to accommodate the projections of the holder and instead have only to provide the blade with an aperture of sufficient size to cover the entire area in which the projections may be located and then to cover such aperture with a sheet of puncturable material adapted to be transfixed at any point at which the projections are located.

permits the blade to be located positively by edgewise pressure across its most rigid dimension while the co-aclion of the blade' locating projections with the puncturable section, which is of fragile construction, is

depended upon only to maintain the position and location of the blade already determined.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the blade.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the open holder with the blade located therein.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the closed holder witlh portions of the cover plate broken away, an

Fig. 4 is a View in perspective showing the blade in position on the back plate.

For the purposes of illustration I have shown a holder comprising a back plate 22 and a cover plate 20 hinged together at one edge by a shaft 24 as is common in the well known Auto Strop safety razor. The back plate 20 is provided near each of its upper corners with a pivotally mounted catch'or dog 26 which includes an arm having a forked outer end shaped to embrace and hold together the back plate 22 and the cover plate 20 when the two are closed upon the blade. Each catch also includes a tooth or lug which is arranged to engage the upper and outer corners of a blade positioned on the back plate 22 and to locate it positively and accurately upon the plate.

Uponthe surface of the back plate 22 are provided one or more blade locating projections, and if desired, the projections in configuration may correspond to a word or other identifying emblem. As suggestedin Figs. 2' and 3 the word GILLETTE is outlined upon the back plate 22 and the projections correspond in contour to the I and to the upright member of the final E ofthis word. It will be apparent that by manufacturing one lot of holders with blade locating projections as above described and other lots of razors with projections corresponding to other portions of the letters it would be necesary to provide a blade having cut out in its body p'ortion the entire word GILLETTE, in order to adapt it for use in these diiferent razors. The blade of the present invention however, is designed to avoid this limitation in that it does not contain individual perforations corresponding to the projections of the holder, but instead, a puncturable section of an area coextensive with the whole word.

, The blade shown in Fig. 1 comprises a body portion 10 of thin sheet steel with one edge bevelled to form a cutting edge 12. Notches 14 are formed adjacent to the upper or rear corners defining projections by which the blade may be located. The blade is internally apertured at 16 so that it contains a cut out section of a size to correspond with the area occupied by the word GILLETTE on the back plate. Secured to one surface of the blade 10 is a covering sheet 18 of paper or other puncturable material. This is stretched smoothly across the cut out panel forming a continuous surface with the metal surface of the blade.

The covering sheet may be secured to one or to both surfaces of the blade 20. As herein shown, the sheet 18 is secured to one face only of the blade and the blade may be presented either up to the back plate 22. When the blade is presented with the covered side down as shown in Fi 4, the projections from the back plate will break through the sheet 18 and will find clearance for themselves In the aperture 16 of the blade. If these projections are of substantially the same height as the thickness of the blade they will stand nearly flush with the upper face of the blade when the latter is engaged by the cover plate 20 and held in position upon the back plate 22. As already pointed. out, the initial position of the blade is determined by the action of the dogs 26 in contacting with the upper corners of the blade. The blade however, is disengaged from these edge locating means when the dogs are swung from the initial position shown in Fig. 2 to the cover clampmg position shown in Fig. 3.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 2-- 1. A safety razor blade internally apertured to receive different sets of blade-locating projections, and a homogeneous sheet extending across its aperture and adapted to be punctured by any selected set of such proections.

2. A safety razor blade having an elongated substantially rectangular opening in the material of its body, and a paper-like sheet secured to one surface and extending across said opening.

3. A safety razor blade internally aper' tured to receive different sets of blade-locating projections, and a puncturable sheet extending across the blade aperture and adapted to be 'ierforated by any selected set of such projections.

4. A safety razor blade havig an elongated opening in the material of its body, and a paper-like sheet secured to one surface of the blade and extending across said opening.

5. A blade for safety razors having an elongated aperture in its body, and a puncturable sheet covering said aperture and attached to the blade about the margin of said aperture.

6. A safety razor having oppositely dis posed blade-clamping plates one of which has blade locating projections in its face, means for temporarily locating a blade by edge engagement with reference to the latter plate, and a blade internally apertured toreceive different sets of blade locating projections and having a puncturable sheet extending across its aperture and adapted to be perforated by any set of such projections.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts this 17th day of November, 1930.

RALPH E. THOMPSON. 

